Vehicle article carriers are used in a wide variety of applications to store articles above an outer body surface of a car, mini van, station wagon, sport utility vehicle, and even some trucks. Such vehicle article carriers typically include a pair of side rails which are fixedly secured to the outer body surface along a major longitudinal length of the outer body surface. At least one cross bar is secured between the side rails, and more typically a pair of cross bars are secured between the side rails. If a pair of cross bars is incorporated, typically one can be adjustably positioned at a desired position along the side rails to better support articles of various sizes thereon.
Recently, manufacturers have been focusing more and more on cross bars which incorporate a single sided release feature. By this it is meant that the opposite ends of the cross bar which are secured to the side rails can be locked and unlocked from one end of the cross bar. This is typically accomplished through some reasonably complex mechanism formed in each end support disposed at each end of the cross bar. Often a cable or spring extends through the interior of the cross bar, which is typically tubular in construction, such that movement of one actuating member at one end of the cross bar simultaneously actuates the locking mechanism at the opposite end of the cross bar, to thus allow both ends of the cross bar to be simultaneously locked and unlocked. Traditionally, such single sided release mechanisms as described above have been reasonably complex in construction. Furthermore, such single sided releasable cross bars have required somewhat complex assembly procedures. The number of independent components typically employed with previously developed single sided releasable systems often makes them somewhat susceptible to the elements such as rain, sleet, dust and dirt, which have the potential to interfere with proper working movement of their interior components.
In view of the foregoing, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a single sided releasable cross bar having a uniquely simple construction which requires fewer independent component parts than previously developed systems.
More particularly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a single sided releasable cross bar having a pair of end supports in which each end support incorporates a camming structure, a robust locking member and a robust biasing element which can be moved between locked and unlocked positions through a camming action when an actuating member of one or the other of the end supports is moved between locked and unlocked positions. It is still a further object of the present invention to provide such a vehicle article carrier which incorporates a means for operatively coupling the mechanisms in each of the end supports of the cross bar, and wherein the means for coupling the mechanisms is very robust and provides for reliable, simultaneous locking and unlocking of both of the end supports of a cross bar from a corresponding pair of side rails.